Scooter Braun has expressed "regret" over the way he handled the Taylor Swift masters controversy.
During a recent interview with Jay Williams for NPR's The Limits with Jay Williams, the music executive recalled acquiring the Lover singer's back catalogue from record label Big Machine Records, founded by Scott Borchetta, in June 2019.
The rights to Swift's first six studio albums were included in the purchase, leading to a series of highly-publicised disagreements, and she later re-recorded the albums to gain complete ownership over them.
Reflecting on the controversy, Braun recounted the tension he had with Big Machine artists during the sale of the firm.
"I learned an important lesson from that... When I did that deal that you're referring to with Big Machine, I was under a very strict NDA (non-disclosure agreement) with the gentleman who owned it, and I couldn't tell any artist. I wasn't allowed to. I wasn't legally allowed to. What I told him was, 'Hey, if any of the artists want to come back and buy into this, you have to let me know.' And he shared a letter with me that's out there publicly that - you know, the artist you're referring to said, 'I don't want to participate in my masters.'"
Braun went on to insist that "a lot of things got lost in translation" amid the negotiations.
"I think that when you have a conflict with someone, it's very hard to resolve it if you're not willing to have a conversation," the 41-year-old continued. "So, the regret I have there is that I made the assumption that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intent, see my character and say, 'Great, let's be in business together.' And I made that assumption with people that I didn't know."
Braun concluded by noting that he views the conflict as a "learning lesson" and hopes for "everyone to win" from the deal.
